


Wriggle on Stage!!

by RyuuMasken



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-19
Updated: 2011-09-19
Packaged: 2017-10-23 21:25:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/255168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyuuMasken/pseuds/RyuuMasken





	Wriggle on Stage!!

The cool air, the slight breeze, the gentle swaying of the trees, the gentle song of the crickets... it was Wriggle's favorite sort of night. She rested with her eyes closed laying on a large rock in the middle of the forest, humming to herself gently and smiling as the wind played upon her face. It was a wonderfully peaceful night.

“Both good friends and good food~!” A singing voice floated down and landed beside her. Wriggle opened her eyes.

“You mean the humans?”

Mystia giggled and shook her head. “No, I mean a festival. The humans in the village are having one.”

“So?”

“I was invited to sing a concert,” Mystia said in an important voice, puffing out her chest and looking proud.

Wriggle sat up smiling. “That's great!”

“Isn't it?” Mystia spoke excitedly, with a broad smile, “One of the organizers asked me to do it while I was making him some lamprey.”

“Kind of weird that he'd ask a youkai, though.” Wriggle pointed out.

“I thought the same thing!” Mystia said in an overly shocked sounding voice, bringing a partially balled hand up to her mouth. “I asked him, and he said that all of the young humans loved my singing! The festival is apparently celebrating the joys of youth and the new generation of humans, so he wanted to indulge them a bit.”

“That's really great!” Wriggle said again. “Oh,” a memory struck her, “did he invite the Prismrivers, too? I remember you saying that you wanted to sing with them.”

“I dunno.” Mystia shrugged. “They're usually really busy, so I don't have my hopes too high.”

“It's still great, though. When is the festival?” Wriggle asked.

“Next weekend...” Mystia paused, pressing a finger against her lips. “I think.”

“You think?” Wriggle laughed. “Myschi, how could you forget your concert date?”

“Well, I was just so excited that I got caught up in things and I forgot, okay?!” Mystia raved, waving her arms around a bit.

Wriggle laughed, and brought her legs towards her so she was sitting cross legged, facing Mystia. “Why don't you sing me one of the songs you're going to sing at the concert?” Mystia beamed, nodded fiercely, and began singing. Her songs lasted long into the night, and Wriggle eventually drifted off to sleep during a slow ballad.

The next afternoon, Wriggle awoke upon her favorite rock, tangled in her best friend. It was not an unusual or rare occurrence, but always an embarrassing one. With the utmost caution, Wriggle attempted to remove her body from Mystia's without waking her up. However, as what always happened in these situations, Wriggle failed, and Mystia stirred while Wriggle was in a very awkward position. Silently, Wriggle cursed her for being such a light sleeper.

“Mornin', Wriggle.” Mystia said in a very ordinary voice.

“Morning...” Wriggle muttered, flushing red. “...Myschi, why did you sleep here?”

“You looked so comfortable!” Mystia said cheerily, suddenly seeming like she had been awake for several hours. “I couldn't resist.”

“Right...” Wriggle sighed.

“Oh, no!” Mystia gasped, gazing up at the sun. “It's already past noon. I told the festival leader I'd help him plan the concert!” Mystia lifted herself up into the air. “See you later, Wriggle!” She called as she flew off into the distance, waving.

Wriggle waved in return, and when Mystia had faded into the distance, Wriggle yawned and stretched, wondering how she should spend her day. She rolled on to her stomach and looked lazily upon some crickets who had chosen to rest upon the same rock as her. “So, what do you think?” She asked. A cricket chirped in response. “Yeah...” Wriggle sighed. “She probably is up to something stupid right now... see you later, then.”

The crickets chirped their farewell and hopped away, and Wriggle, stretching once again, took to flight towards the lake. It was bright and sunny day—and it would stay that way, she thought, twitching her antennae around. The air smelled quite fresh, as well, and the sun was reflecting brilliantly over the still water of the lake.

“Now, just slide down it into the lake.” A young, but authoritative voice came from below.

“But, I hate water...” Another voice came.

Wriggle sighed and began her descent. On the ground, Cirno had created a ramp from ice going into the lake, and Chen was perched at the top looking nervous.

“So?” Cirno put her hands on her hips. “There's nothing to worry about.”

“But...” Chen whimpered.

“Maybe you should just let her go, Cirno.” Wriggle said as she landed. “You wouldn't want to get Ran mad, would you?”

Cirno mulled this over for a few moments, gently cocking her head from one side to the other. "Nah, I s'pose not."

Chen gave a large sigh of relief, and jumped from the top of the icy slide. "Thanks for saving me."

Wriggle smiled. "No problem. So, did you two hear? Myschi is going to sing a concert at the human festival next week."

Chen's eyes widened and Cirno tried her hardest to look unimpressed. "Wow!" Chen cheered. "That's amazing!"

"Yeah, I guess it's kind of cool." Cirno muttered. "Won't the miko pitch a fit, though?"

"I don't think she'll mind." Wriggle said. "She's pretty easy-going."

"That's true." Cirno agreed. "I'm the strongest, anyway, so it wouldn't matter if she did," she added, proudly puffing out her chest.

"Yeah," Wriggle laughed. "Even though you always lose!"

"Hey! Shut up!"

"Don't fight…" Chen said weakly. "We're all friends, right?"

"Say, Chen, do you think Ran'll let you come see the concert?" Wriggle asked, changing the subject.

"Uhh…" She paused. "I hope so… if not, I can ask Yukari-shama to open a gap so I can watch from home."

"Ugh, Yukari," Wriggle groaned, shivering. "No offense, but she's always creeped me out."

"She's really nice when you get to know her." Chen said.

"She's right! I really am!" Yukari said, hanging upside down out of a gap above them. Wriggle shrieked, and Cirno attempted to not look intimidated, but failed miserably in doing so.

"Yukari-shama!" Chen smiled broadly and threw her arms around the gap youkai.

"Dinner time." Yukari said, returning Chen's hug. "Ran wanted me to get you."

Chen turned her head to Cirno and Wriggle. "I'll see you guys later!" With no delay, Yukari pulled Chen into the gap and disappeared. A moment of silence passed. Cirno was the first to open her mouth,

"So… wanna freeze some frogs?"

"Don't you ever get tired of that?" Wriggle retorted.

"Not really." Cirno said flatly, shrugging.. "If you don't wanna do that, we could always play pranks on the gate guard."

"No, not after last time." Wriggle said, rubbing her cheek tenderly. She still hadn't forgotten the lesson that China's fist had taught her.

"Find Rumia?"

"Too easy during the day."

“Race?"

“You're on."

Wriggle spent the rest of the evening doing various competitions with Cirno, and losing most of them. It was hard for her to beat Cirno in contests of pure skill. Night fell, and—after turning down a game of Find Rumia—Wriggle bed farewell to Cirno and floated off back towards the forest. She was kind of disappointed that Mystia did not show up to play with them, but she was probably busy with some sort of festival work. She came to rest on her favorite rock—honestly, she had no idea why she didn't just move her house here—and began directing the fireflies to dance in front of her. They swayed back and forth, dipped forward and back, doing a strange sort of dance that Wriggle always found so entertaining to watch. Without thinking, she began to sing one of the songs that Myschi had sung the night before…

"Wow! I didn't know you could sing, Wriggle!"

Wriggle cried out, turning to face Mystia, who was curiously peering into Wriggle's face with a surprised smile on her face. "M-M-Myschi!" Wriggle's face began flushing a deep red. "I-I don't know w-what you're talking about!"

"Just now!" Mystia said excitedly. "You were singing a song from last night, weren't you? You're really good!"

"I-I'm not that—"

"We should sing together!" Mystia beamed.

"…really?" Wriggle asked in a weak voice.

"Yeah! It would be fun!"

"…I guess."

"C'mon, c'mon, let's do it!" Mystia picked up the song where Wriggle had left off, and sang enthusiastically. Wriggle attempted to keep up, but Mystia had a habit of spontaneously changing songs as she sang them, so it became difficult to match her singing. It was a relief when the improvised medley concluded.

"That was great!" Mystia cheered.

"Was it?" Wriggle sighed. "I could hardly stay with you, Myschi."

"You did fine! You just need some practice… oh! I could coach you!"

Wriggle gave a half-hearted smile. She was not that interested in learning how to sing, but it was really hard to say no to Myschi when she got so excited. "Y-Yeah, you could…"

"Can you do a scale? Do~, re~, mi~" Mystia led.

"Do… re… mi…"

"Put some more energy into it!"

"Do~, re~, mi~!"

"That's good!" Mystia looked ecstatic. "Now, follow along with me!"

For the next several days, Wriggle spent her days sleeping in past noon, hanging out with Cirno and Chen, and then voice training all night with Mystia. It was fun, but it involved waking up using Mystia as a blanket more than Wriggle would have liked. As the festival grew closer, Wriggle couldn't help but have a bad feeling. "Well," she said to herself, "if Myschi won't get nervous, I'll have to do it for her."

The evening before the festival, Mystia arrived at the rock much sooner than usual—the sun was still setting. Though, when Wriggle was practically tackled by the excited night bird, it became difficult to differ between the light of the sun and the brightness of Mystia's smile. “They're coming~!” She sang. “They're coming~!”

“W-Who's coming?” Wriggle asked, somewhat taken aback from Mystia's sudden and forceful arrival.

“The Prismrivers! They came during practice today and said they would play! I got to sing with them a bit! I'm so excited!” Mystia was smiling so widely, Wriggle thought her face would crack.

“That's great, Myschi!” Wriggle tried to match Mystia's smile.

“I'm so excited! The Prismrivers!” It was quite a while before Mystia got off of the subject and started singing. Instead of teaching Wriggle singing techniques, she invited—coerced, really—Wriggle to sing along with her. Wriggle found it surprisingly easy to keep up... Mystia's training must have been paying off. “You're a lot better now, Wriggle!” She commented excitedly. “You should sing with us tomorrow!”

“...I what?”

“Should sing with us tomorrow!”

“Ah, no no no...” Wriggle flushed slightly and began waving her hands in protest. “I-I'm not that good, a-and I couldn't sing in front of so many people...”

“It's easy! You should really try!”

“No... really, I'd rather not...”

“Why not?”

“I-It's your concert, Myschi, and you're much better than me...”

“Aww.” Mystia pouted. “But it would be so much fun! We could sing a duet!”

“I-I'd rather not...”

“Hmph. Well, fine.” Mystia turned her nose in a show of mock anger. The rest of the night passed mostly uneventfully, with Wriggle following along with Mystia's singing, with Mystia occasionally prodding Wriggle with the suggestion of getting on stage, which Wriggle attempted to shoot down at every instance. The song ended early that night, and Mystia left with a suspicious smile on her face that left Wriggle with an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Wriggle awoke purposely late the next day, so she the time between her waking and the concert would be that much shorter. Sadly, there were still several hours she had to burn, so she floated off to the lake to waste away the final hours of daylight with Cirno and Chen.

“Hey.” She greeted, gently floating to the ground.

“Wriggle!” Chen cheered. “I'm so excited for the concert!”

“Yeah.” Wriggle smiled and nodded. “The festival should be fun, too.”

“Well, duh!” Cirno grinned almost arrogantly and puffed out her chest. “It's a festival to celebrate youkai, after all!”

“...It's a festival to celebrate the human youth, Cirno.” Wriggle sighed.

“Was it?” Cirno suddenly looked blank. “But the weirdos from the mansion are going. The creepy flower lady, too.” Wriggle shuddered. Just the mere mention of that woman was enough to make all the feeling leave her knees. “Don't worry,” Cirno pat Wriggle on the shoulder. “I'm the strongest, so there's nothing you need to worry about.”

“Maybe that's why I'm worrying...” Wriggle muttered.

“Ran-shama and Yukari-shama said they would stop by, too!” Chen spoke up.

“With a lineup like that we can probably expect the miko and the black-white as well.” Wriggle pondered.

“And with the black-white, the weird doll lady.” Cirno added, nodding.

“Why is everyone weird to you?”

“So you're saying they're not weird?”

“Well...” Wriggle trailed off. “Is Rumia coming?”

“Couldn't find her.” Cirno shrugged. “She doesn't like hanging around humans too much, anyway.”

“I suppose not, but... how could you not find her during days this bright?”

Chen sighed. “Do you two always have to fight?”

“We're not fighting!” Wriggle and Cirno said at once. A moment of silence hung in the air, and then the three began to laugh. They decided to pass the time racing around the lake. When the sun began to set, they headed off towards the human village while Wriggle and Cirno lightly argued over who was faster.

When they arrived, people were already beginning to gather around the large stage set up for the concert. Mystia, who was pacing about making sure everything was set up right, waved her friends to join her on stage. “I'm so excited!” She was positively bursting with giddiness. “Join me backstage, will you?” Without another word, she hurried off.

“Jeez, doesn't even give us a chance to speak.” Cirno sighed.

“Well, you know how Mystia can be when she's excited.” Chen said.

Backstage, older human men were bustling back and forth, carrying supplies or setting up equipment. Mystia stood out against them, along with three older women that Wriggle didn't recognize. “Everyone! I want you to meet the Prismrivers!” Introductions were made, and Wriggle felt a little more than slightly uncomfortable talking to people so famous.

“So!” Mystia said suddenly. “Wriggle, are you suuuuure you don't wanna sing on stage?”

Cirno snorted. “Wriggle? Sing?! Seriously?”

Wriggle blushed. “Y-Yeah, I'm sure I don't want to.”

Mystia pouted and puffed out her cheeks, but before she could complain, a sorrowful voice spoke: “Pity.” Wriggle jumped a bit, surprised to be addressed by Lunasa. “You have a wonderfully melodic voice.” Despite her inherently sad voice, Lunasa was smiling quite brilliantly.

“R-Really?” Wriggle stammered. Lunasa nodded.

“What about mine?” Chen asked excitedly.

Lunasa giggled slightly. “Well, it's certainly lively. You have some very nice tones.”

“Hmph.” Cirno folded her arms and put on her best “I'm important” face. “Mine must be pretty good, huh?”

“Actually, it sounds pretty flat to me.” Merlin said.

Lyrica laughed. “Yeah! About as flat as your chest!” Cirno flushed red and glared at the two other sisters, as if she expected her icy stare to change their minds.

“Oh, here you all are!” A rough looking human man approached the group. “You all ready? We're scheduled in a few minutes.”

Mystia turned to her friends. “I need to go get ready! Have fun, okay?” She rushed off.

“Really is a pity you won't sing.” Lunasa added as she left with her sisters.

Wriggle felt uncomfortable surrounded by all the rough men still bustling about. She turned to suggest they find a place to sit when she saw Cirno still red faced and shaking, glaring at the spot Lyrica and Merlin were standing with tears in her eyes. “A... Are you okay?”

Cirno sniffled. “I'm not flat...”

“...let's find a place to sit.”

Mystia's concert had already begun when the three discovered that there really wasn't anywhere to sit backstage, so they instead stood behind the curtains, watching Mystia dance about the stage and the Prismrivers letting their instruments float around seemingly without aim. The cheering of the crowd was louder than anything Wriggle had expected.

“There sure are a lot of people...” She said, peering beyond the curtains. “A lot of ghosts, too.”

“Well, of course!” Came an all too familiar voice. Wriggle shuddered and looked over her shoulder to see Yukari and Ran stepping out of a gap.

“Ran-shama!” Chen cried excitedly, running forth to hug her master.

“She's very popular, you know.” Yukari continued. “Even Reimu likes her.”

“I-Is that so...?” Suddenly, Wriggle was reminded of Rumia and briefly wondered where she might be.

“Ran-shama, what are you and Yukari-shama doing here anyway?” Chen inquired.

“It was Yukari-sama's idea.” Ran shrugged.

Yukari laughed. “Backstage is the best place for a concert!”

Wriggle agreed nervously and attempted to focus her friend's concert. Mystia had a look of pure happiness etched onto her face, every syllable passing through a stunning smile before it reached the crowd. Wriggle kind of envied her. “It really looks like fun...” She muttered without thinking.

“What? You thinkin' about going out there?” Cirno smiled arrogantly, having apparently already forgotten the insult she had suffered.

“N... No.”

“I'm not surprised. All of those ghosts must scaaaare you, huh?” Cirno grinned and began to rub under her nose with her finger, a sure sign that she was about to impart some knowledge that she thought was special. “They're all here to see the Prismrivers, you know! They're popular in the Netherworld.”

“Wow.” Wriggle said flatly. “I'm honestly surprised that you were right for once.”

“Shut it.” Cirno shot back.

“Do you want to sing, Wriggle?” Yukari asked casually.

“U-Uh, no... it's nothing, really...” Wriggle choked out a response. In all the years Wriggle had known Chen, she still could not figure out why Yukari loved to pick on her so much.

“Mystia invited Wriggle to sing!” Chen said excitedly. “Even Miss Lunasa said she had a nice voice!”

Wriggle swallowed hard. Wasn't honesty supposed to be a virtue?

“Oh~? My, that's interesting.” Yukari said in a mischievous voice, a sort of voice that Wriggle absolutely detested and it caused her to focus on the concert like never before. Luckily, Yukari stopped teasing Wriggle for the next few songs.

“Okay, everyone!” Mystia called to the crowd, who cheered in response. “This is gonna be my last song, so let's make it great, okay?!” Another roar of cheering. “I wanna thank all of my friends, the Prismriver Sisters for coming out here, and all of you for listening to our concert!”

“Wriggle~.” Yukari called. Wriggled turned, and found herself being pushed backwards by the gap youkai. She managed to prevent herself from falling over, but she ended up colliding with someone.

“Wriggle?!” Mystia gasped.

“Myschi?!” Wriggle looked back to the group, now much farther away, and Chen cheering her on, Ran watching interestedly, Cirno laughing, and Yukari smiling behind a fan, waving at her.

“I thought you didn't want to sing...” Mystia whispered into Wriggle's ear.

“I thought I didn't either.” Wriggle retorted.

“Gotta play this off...” Mystia hissed. “Everyone!” She called to the crowd once again. “This is a very good friend of mine, and we have a surprise for you!” The crowd cheered. “We're going to sing a duet! Let's hear her introduce herself!” Mystia turned to Wriggle with an excited look on her face.

“Wriggle, here!” Wriggle turned, and Lunasa tossed her a small cylindrical device. Wriggle looked towards Mystia.

“Speak into this end, it makes your voice louder.”

Wriggle held the object to her mouth, turned towards the crowd, and immediately became paralyzed with fear. Hundreds of young, cheering humans were spread out before her, and several ghosts were dotted in the air above the village. All waiting for her. Wriggle began to shake.

“Wriggle!” Mystia hissed. “Say something!”

“H-Hi!” Wriggle called, brought out of her reverie. The crowd cheered in response. “I-I'm Wriggle!” More cheering. Wriggle's antennae began to twitch nervously. “P... Please listen to our song!”

The Prismrivers seemed to take her cue, and begun playing. Fortunately, it was a song Wriggle knew well, as she and Mystia had sung it several times each night in the past week. Mystia led her in an improvised dance around the stage, reaching out to Wriggle on some lines and pushing her away on others. Wriggle did her best to emulate this, but where Mystia's movements were natural and fluid, Wriggle's movements were stiff and shaky. She even came close to tripping over her own cape a couple of times.

Luckily, it was a short song, though Wriggle found herself nearly gasping for breath when it finally ended. The instrumental ended, and the crowd exploded into applause. “Thank you, everyone!” Mystia sang into the cylinder. She grabbed Wriggle's hand and raised it into the air, and then led her into a bow. The curtains fell. Wriggle sank to her knees and held a hand to her chest.

“That was so much fun~!” Mystia spun before noticing Wriggle shaking upon the floor. “Uhm... are you okay?”

“My heart...” Wriggle panted, “is going.... to explode.”

“That was a very good concert.” Lunasa said, walking up from behind them. “It was a pleasure to participate.”

“Thank you very much!” Mystia said excitedly. She even went as far to give a bow. “It was amazing being able to sing with you!”

Lunasa smiled softly. “It was also a pleasure to play with you.” She nodded to Wriggle.”

“Th... thank you.” Wriggle gasped.

“You two were amazing!” Chen yelled, running up to the two. Cirno followed at a walking pace

“Thanks!” Mystia said, hugging Chen. “I'm so glad you all came!”

“Yeah, you were really good, Mystia!” Cirno added. “Aaaand, I guess you were okay, too.”

“Thanks.” Wriggle said sarcastically, giving a flat look to the ice fairy.

“Well, we must be on our way.” Lunasa said almost drearily. “Have fun, kids.” She returned to her sisters, and the three of them floated off.

“Hmph.” Cirno crossed her arms. “Kids. I'm not a kid!”

Wriggle stood. “You're a kid.”

“Am not!” Cirno protested.

Mystia giggled. “Totally a kid.”

“Arrgh, damn it!”

“Okay, okay,” Chen sighed. “What are we gonna do now?”

“Jeez, I'm still recovering from Yukari's stunt...” Wriggle groaned.

“Get over it.” Cirno said. “We're at a festival, so there's only one thing to do!”

“That being?” Mystia asked.

“We've gotta teach these humans how youkai party!” And without another word, Cirno led the group off the stage and into the crowds of humans.

Yukari sighed. “You know, Ran, sometimes I really worry.”

“Hm?” Ran folded her arms within her sleeves and cocked an eyebrow. “About what?”

“Well... I think of all the people we know... and I think... are any of them going to have kids?”

“What do you...” A look of understanding crossed Ran's face and she concluded with a simple, “Oh.”

“It's really distressing~...” Yukari put on a face of false distress. “Well!” She continued, brightening up considerably. “Time to drown my sorrows in alcohol! Wanna join me?”

Ran sighed. “You know I can't turn down an offer like that, Yukari-sama.”

Thanks to the intervention of several youkai and rowdy humans, the festival—which was to end at midnight—lasted long into the night, and only ended when the first rays of sun crested the horizon.


End file.
